You throw the ball. You catch the ball. You hit the ball…Of course, baseball fans know that this line from Bull Durham is far from true, part of the humor of the movie and a huge part of the fun of the game. This blog is a space to talk about baseball, being a baseball fan, all of those things that make the game fun and the Angels, because they make baseball fun for me.

The Long, Dark Time Without Baseball, Day 9

Day. Nine. Nine days without baseball. Nine! That’s two entire days longer than a week! Recent studies question the canonical stages of grief based on the, very sound if you ask me, notion that we all grieve in such different ways that assigning set stages, even with the understanding that people may progress through them differently, is ludicrous. Besides, I’m not entirely certain that they would have applied to grief from baseball loss anyway.

Regardless I think it’s safe to say that what I am experiencing right now is denial, channel surfing for a substitute and then trying to behave as though that substitute were the real thing. The MLB All-Stars vs. Taiwan games. The Arizona Fall League. Heck, I’m even watching the darned awards shows on MLBN, something I would not normally be inclined to do. La la la! Look it’s still baseball. La la la…except, really, it’s not. Well, not the same anyway. *sigh*

I tried to get excited over the MLB All-Stars in Taiwan, really I did. They featured a great bunch of players and Erick Aybar, Trevor Bell, Rich Thompson and the rest of the Angels players made a strong showing for their team, but when it came right down to it, the games were only so so.

Mark Trumbo says see ya! Catcher Miguel Olivo and Plate Umpire Todd Tichenor pause to watch it go. Angels vs. Mariners, July 9, 2011. Photo by This is a very simple game...

As for the awards shows and the like, I love that Mark Trumbo won the Player’s Choice Award for AL Rookie of the Year. I’m thrilled that players all over the league saw in Trumbo the same amazing things that Angels and Angels fans have been seeing in him all season. On base percentage be damned, the kid is doing great things with his bat and with his glove. But in the end an awards show isn’t a baseball game. It’s more like a visual aid for a press release about baseball with a few fun, extended interviews included.

And the AFL Rising Stars Game? Mike Trout is clearly tired and probably should get some rest before spring training or, as I said to crack up Seth, Awww, the poor little guy’s all tuckered out. And it was a boring blow out of a game with the kind of play one would expect from rising stars who are a mix of fresh from rookie ball young players and recent rookie call-ups. No offense to the kids, but in the end I turned it off thinking I could probably get a better baseball fix watching Major League. I did. Even if it was edited in truly silly ways for basic cable.

Eh, I suppose I really am being a bit of a baby about this. I mean, existing without baseball will get easier as fall and winter wear on and Spring Training isn’t that far away, right? I mean it’s only, what? 70-ish…? *reaches for calendar* 80-something…? *begins counting on calendar* 90, 91…?! La la la! I resolve to stop counting and be in denial about this too! La la la.

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On an even sillier note, if anything finally drives me from my denial it may very well be the weather. It just doesn’t winter-rainstorm-downpour in Southern California during baseball season once you get past April. Yet it was coming down hard all day Friday and all evening as we watched the game in Taiwan. Yes, rain in Southern California. Look! Photographic evidence from my very own porch:

It's really starting to come down. View from my porch, November 4, 2011. Photo by This is a very simple game...

Of course then, Southern California being what it is, the weather got all gorgeous again the very next day, though when the rainy season starts in earnest this can take several days :) :

Ah, gorgeous again! View from my porch, November 5, 2011. Photo by This is a very simple game...

i am going to take up a hobby. painting again. or knitting. i tried to watch football. i have tried now twice. so. there’s that. it looks so pretty in socal! it’s pretty here too. but pretty and ten degrees… so…

I fear it is the only thing we can do. I passed some time this week making pickles but I can’t fill all of the time cooking or I will need Spring Training more than the players. I think knitting may be the way to go. And thanks! It is pretty here in the parts that aren’t so full of city, but it is gorgeous out where you are.

Glad you survived the rain. When I lived in SoCal, the scariest time of the year was during the occasional downpour. People FREAK OUT there, like they have never seen rain before, and they simply forget how to drive without causing massive heart attacks among the few defensive drivers (me) trying to stay alive.

Also, I found the Taiwan v. MLB All-Stars games a bit blah myself. Just isn’t the same.

I am the anti-Californian, Jeff, in that I love the rain, though I do wish my fellow SoCal dwellers would learn to drive in it. It’s not that hard! :) It’s only a bad thing when the hills behind us burn the previous year and then the rain can become mudslides but that’s not the case this year.

This off-season will be particularly hard because not only did the post season end earlier but the season starts later than it did last season. We’re not even half way through November yet and I’m already going crazy. It’ll only get worse once it starts snowing here.

Snow is definitely something I enjoy visiting Bluejaysnest but would not want to live with. I imagine that does make things harder…and I had forgotten about this being a longer offseason. *sobs* Just kidding about the sobbing…mostly. ;)

Ouch, Mike! I love the rain but I don’t think I could cope with snow forature more than a few days, once the pretty gets dirtied up and the novelty wears off. Of course you all play baseball in the snow come spring so I think Mother Nature has her signals crossed up your way.

i am trying to get a job near the coast. that’s the great thing about north carolina. as cold as i am, someone in my state is warmer… it was 16 degrees yesterday. 16. but, in raleigh… i hear they broke 50. anyone want to hire me in raleigh? i do great work, warm.

16 degrees just sounds painful to me, toosoxy. I’m a weird Californian in that I prefer colder weather to heat, but I like California cold, 40s and 50s. None of this below freezing stuff for me. But 50 and near the coast sounds nice and I hear Raleigh and the whole research triangle area is great! Maybe they need journalism profs at one of the colleges? Or a new beat reporter covering one of the minor league baseball teams?

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